Quintessence of Dust
by Well Widget
Summary: On her wedding day, Donna Noble is kidnapped. This is that story, and yet...not. She has dreams that don't match up to her life, and most of them figure around the scientist that just saved her life. What is going on and why does it all seem so familiar and strange at the same time?


Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who. I make no money playing in their sandbox.

Author's Note: I know I've been horrible updating Chiswick, but you know those bunnies that refuse to leave? This is one.

* * *

Donna Noble was turning in the mirror, watching as the white wedding dress swished. This was her day. This was the day she had been thinking about for years. She, the pudgy, mouthy, ginger temp had found someone who was kind, patient, and not just interested in a shag. She felt like she had hit the jackpot.

The loud knock on the door of her flat startled her, and she sighed, shouting at it as she moved from the bedroom to the main room. "It's about time you got out of the tanning booth to show up, Nerys! Some maid of honour you are!" She wrenched open the door, about to fire off another barb about her best frenemy's appearance, when a rag was shoved in her face. She took a breath to scream but was overcome with a sticky, cloying, overly sweet and somehow rotten scent - and then everything went black.

Dr. John Smith blinked his bleary eyes at the road as he drove. It had been a rough few days, and he hadn't yet gotten a chance to sleep. Luckily, years of academia had made him accustomed to running on little to no energy. He turned on his radio, pushing the latest CD from UNIT on Exolinguistics into the player and tried not to think about Rose.

It had hurt to see her be ripped away like that, especially when she had been so bright. A little reckless, but bright. She was too fearless in the end. Now he would never see her again. At least he had found a way to say goodbye, through a silly little UNIT broadcast across the last of the dimensional rips.

Just then, something in the car ahead caught his eye. Looking closer, he realised that a woman was struggling to get away, pushing against the windows and screaming at the motorway.

Well, that just wouldn't do. He had watched one person be taken away against their will, and he couldn't stop that - but a plain old kidnapping? He could stop that.

Donna Noble woke in the back of what appeared to be an ancient taxi, driven by a woman with red hair. Bright, fire-engine red hair. She looked down and with growing horror realised she was being held by some kind of gold robot. She screamed and kicked.

"Oh shut up." The woman driving complained. "You'll only look like a nutter to everyone passing."

"Did Nerys put you up to this?" Donna screamed at her, anger overtaking her shock and fear. "Oh, that _bitch._Get me to the church!"

"Who's Nerys?" The woman asked, raising a black eyebrow that didn't match her fire-engine red hair.

"Oh, like you don't know. You've obviously been sharing the same blind stylist." Donna said, beating on the robot. "Get me to the church!"

"No." The woman replied. "I'm not letting you marry my Lance."

"Your Lance?" Donna roared. "I don't think so, Sunshine!" She shook her head. "You're crazy!"

She started renewing her efforts, managing to get out of the grip of the gold robot, but it did little good. That was, until a cricket ball sailed through the window and landed in her white silk lap, shattering the glass. Donna stared at it for a moment, her first thought being, _'You've got to be kidding me! Rescued by a cricket ball?_Cricket?_Of all things!_

Of course, this was quickly followed up by the fact that someone was shouting at her.

"Jump!" John shouted, letting UNIT's sensors and auto-drive take control temporarily, as the kidnapped woman opened the car door.

"Are you insane?" Donna screamed back. She had managed to get the door open, thanks to the broken window. "I'm not jumping on the motorway!"

"Probably!" John shouted back as the car swerved. "Come on, jump! I'll catch you!"

Donna looked back at the gold robot who had apparently short circuited from flying glass, but was still moving his hands to grab her, opening and closing on thin air. "I'm in my wedding dress!"

"Yes, you look lovely!" John shouted back. "I doubt whatever they want with you is pleasant, Miss. So come on!"

Taking a deep breath and muttering under her breath that Lance better appreciate what she had to go through to marry him, she took a deep breath and jumped.

John Smith grunted a bit as he caught the curvaceous ginger woman, his foot hitting the dash as he fell back , causing the auto-driver to malfunction, leaving him to struggle with the wheel. "Are you all right?" He asked.

"I'm late for my wedding!" Donna declared, staring at the clock in horror.

"Er...right." John Smith said, blinking. She seemed uninjured anyway, at least as he did a quick side appraisal. "Well, you could call them if you've got a mobile."

Donna gave him a withering look. "I'm in my wedding dress; it doesn't have pockets. Who has pockets? Have you ever seen a bride with pockets? When I went to my fitting at Chez Alison, the one thing I forgot to say was "Give me pockets!"

To be fair, John had never thought very hard about wedding dresses, but the poor woman had a point. "Right, you can use mine. It's in the bag in the back." He listened slightly as she grumbled, reaching for his kit bag in the back.

"At least get me to the church!" Donna said as she fumbled through science books and government files. "St. Mary's, Hayden Road, Chiswick, London." Having retrieved a very expensive satellite phone, she settled back into her seat, looking up at him. "And thanks..." She said, in a softer, less aggressive voice than she had used since she was kidnapped by a woman with bad hair and robots. "For saving me."


End file.
